


nothing but bruises

by indigo_penstrokes



Series: the story of janie smalls [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Gen, Minor Injuries, and we get more of her and nicky's friendship, janie gets roughed up a bit during a game, thats basically the whole fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigo_penstrokes/pseuds/indigo_penstrokes
Summary: Janie get's roughed up a bit more than usual when the Foxes play the Jackals, certain parties are not impressed by her lack of self preservationor: a continuation of my study on janie smalls, this time featuring an intense exy game, nicky as the friend janie needs, and leia being a protective gf
Relationships: Janie Smalls & Nicky Hemmick
Series: the story of janie smalls [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652428
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	nothing but bruises

**Author's Note:**

> some very minor content warnings just to cover all my bases: jack says a slur to janie in the beginning because he's an actual dick, and then during the game janie's backliner says some pretty gross things that might make some people uncomfortable so just be careful

Janie's veins hummed with a high she had only ever found on an Exy court during a game, everything thrown into either sharp focus or blurred static; she felt invincible. The fact she was playing in a finals deathmatch heightened that feeling of invincibility until her grin had gone manic and fierce. For these twenty minutes she was capable of anything. It didn’t matter that Breckenridge’s team played dirty, they might have even been going for the record of most red cards given in NCAA history. In fact, it made her itch that much more to get out on the court and prove that she could hold her own.

Janie strolled onto the court like this was any other game; ready to play like she had nothing to lose. She didn't even bat an eye when her backliner mark, Lentz, glared at her from across the court, murder burning dark in his eyes. In fact Janie gave him a little wave, as carefree as she could be, before taking her starting position. 

She was on with Jack, something she absolutely abhorred. But Kevin had thought the added pressure of finals looming closer would make them play nice together on the court. Oh how wrong he was. It could only end in disaster. 

Her point was only proved when Jack spat at her, “If you fuck this up for us-” 

“Oh I'm not the one who should be worried about fucking up,” Janie interrupted, light and chastising. They both knew she was the better player with her deadly accuracy against his blind power, and she was not above reminding him of that.

“Sure, just don't drag me down,” he scoffed, a cocky set to his shoulders.

“I wouldn't even dream of it, sweetheart,” she chirped, grinning at how it grated on him.

“Fuck you, asshole,” Jack snarled, turning on her with a murderous glare.

“Bitch,” she countered, holding his stare with one of her own.

“Dyke.” He sneered triumphantly.

Janie couldn't stop herself from lunging at Jack, one word had ignited the passive anger inside her. It was pure instinct as her fist found its way into the space just under Jack's chest armor, forcing air from his lungs in a pained wheeze. But Jack wasn't the person to just take a punch laying down, so his own elbow rammed against the edge of Janie's face mask, splitting her lip under the force of it. 

It was fast and dirty as they brawled, each trying for the most harm they could inflict on the other. Throwing fists and knees into any body part they could reach to bring each other down. It was all of their arguments and nasty remarks given physical form in all of their sharp, throat slashing glory, and Janie wanted nothing more than to smash the self centered sneer off of Jack’s face. If only she hadn’t dropped her racket.

Through the haze, Janie vaguely registered the referees pounding on the plexiglass walls, but all she could see was red as arms wrapped around her shoulders and yanked her backward. She connected with something solid and immediately twisted violently in the grasp of whoever had grabbed her, gloved hands struggling to find purchase.

“Stop. It's not worth it,” Nicky’s voice hissed by her ear as he held her even tighter. 

Janie struggled for a few moments more, but Nicky's grip was iron and she didn't have the strength to break it. She let the excess anger bleed from her system as her breathing came hard and shallow, focusing on the metalic tang of blood in her mouth, the dull ache in her hand, the way she could feel Nicky breathing behind her, still tensed to pull her back if she went for Jack again. She grounded herself back into the game they still had to play with bright court lights and the faint roar of the crowd that was without a doubt eating up her and Jack’s hostility.

“I’m done, it’s not worth getting ejected.” Janie wiped at the blood trickling down her chin, it would be a pain to get out of the padded gloves, but she didn’t need Abby to pull her for something so small.

Nicky carefully pulled his arms away and stepped back, his apprehension palpable as Janie rolled her shoulders. “Can you still play?”

“You sound like Kevin,” Nicky grimaced as she grinned, “but yeah, I can.”

“Don’t be stupid alright, that’s Neil’s job.” He gave her another look that she had only ever seen directed at his family, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

“No promises.” Janie picked her racket up from where it had fallen during the fight, and twirled it a few times to make sure it was still in working order. It was. She smiled thinly, she shouldn’t have dropped it in the first place. She spared a quick glance over at Jack, who was getting chewed out by Dan. That alone turned her grin wicked. Then looking past the two she saw a very disappointed looking Kevin watching them through the plexiglass, she lifted her shoulders in a way that hopefully conveyed her _well what were you expecting?_ It wasn’t like Kevin had any room to call them out on it, Janie had seen the on court fight he’d had with Seth Gordan the year before. If anything she and Jack were carrying on the tradition.

The refs pounded on the walls again, motioning for Dan to step back into her position and to get the game moving. When she did they were finally ready to play the second half.

The buzzer sounded and Janie took off tearing down the court as Dan volleyed the ball up and over their heads. During the scuffle she’d nearly forgotten about Lentz, but now it was impossible to as he cut off her path right before the ball hit the floor. There was something about his grin that set ice gnawing at her bones. 

Janie barely managed a quick side step to catch the ball on its rebound, looking quickly for an opening in the goal. But Lentz, who matched Janie pound for pound and inch for inch, slammed his racket into hers, sending painful shocks into her hands and up her arms as he tried to dislodge the ball. But she kept the net close to her body and tried to sidestep her way to safety again, only managing a step and a half. She had to get the ball away from Lentz so she raised her stick to pass to Jack, but Lentz rammed his shoulder into hers, popping the ball from her net and bouncing it up the court for one of Breckenridge’s strikers to scoop up.

“Fuck,” Janie hissed, rolling her shoulder. Even with the armor a hit like that would still hurt like hell in the morning.

“Better luck next time.” He smiled like a wolf, all teeth and no mirth.

“Fuck you,” Janie spat as she ran to get back to the ball. 

“Oh I’d love to, but I heard you don’t swing that way. Though I'm sure you could arrange something with your girlfriend.” The smirk he wore could only be described as predatory, it turned Janie’s stomach.

His comment sat like venom in the back of her throat as they continued to play. It wasn’t like Janie hadn’t heard worse, she definitely had after her little stunt with Leia, but there was something about it paired with the animal-like hunger Lentz played with that put her on edge. Her backliner was out for blood and she didn't want to know how far he'd go for it.

Janie found out anyway when Lentz crushed her hand between his racket and her own. She just barely choked back her cry of pain before taking off after the ball again, doing her best to out pace Lentz and her own pain. She ended up standing in place, too dazed at the burn in her fingers to keep up with the game.

“I thought you said you weren't going to fuck up?” Jack called menacingly from across the court where he wasn't fighting nearly as hard with his backliner as he was with Janie. That was enough to jar her back to reality and send her back into the line of Lentz’s destruction.

“Go fuck yourself Jack,” Janie bit out as Lentz shouldered past her again, almost tripping her. How he hadn't gotten a yellow yet was infuriating as her hand throbbed.

The quarter dragged on and on as Janie grew more fatigued from Lentz’s never ending checks that had only grown worse the longer they played, and Jack’s inability to pass to her unless it was absolutely necessary. She ended up working twice as hard to just keep pace with the team as her body slowly started to rebel against her. It was starting to show in her sloppy footwork and the fact she was only able to land one of the three shots she took on the goal. She vowed that if she wasn’t dead by the end of this she was going to kill Kevin herself.

Janie had just squeezed a pass back to Dan when Lentz smashed her into the wall, again, his stick cracking across her right knee, just above her shin guards. Her ears rang as her head snapped back into the plexiglass, the dull roar of the crowd distorted as if she’d been suddenly plunged underwater. She only had enough time to realize what the dark spots flashing across her vision were before her legs tried to crumple beneath her. The court wall was barely enough to keep her upright as her racket slipped from her fingers. 

“Oh come on, surely you can take a hit better than that,” Lentz taunted before running off to tail Jack. He was grinning again and it made Janie go cold all over. 

Janie reached for her racket, only to have the court floor come up to meet her. After that she registered a series of sensations: something warm and wet on her face, Dan yelling from down the court, the nauseating brightness of the stadium lights, and her heartbeat in her teeth. She scrabbled for her racket, maybe she could use it to prop herself upright and get her bearings again. 

In a painstakingly slow maneuver she got to her feet, head reeling dangerously as she reached out to the wall for support. Her knee twinged violently, threatening to pull her back down again. On the other side of the plexiglass Wymack was making lots of gestures that she couldn’t focus on well enough to decipher, but when they made eye contact he gave her a look that needed no translation, and she raised her racket weakly above her head. It was the first time she’d ever tapped out of a game. Hopefully it would be the only time.

The alarm buzzer was nearly enough to knock the world out from under Janie as she stumbled a few steps towards the court doors. Then suddenly Nicky was supporting half her weight as they slowly hobbled off the court. Janie’s limp obvious to the now buzzing crowd.

“What did I say about being stupid?” Nicky quipped, trying to lighten the situation.

“That Neil’s the stupid one,” Janie ground out around the pain that flared in her leg every time she took a step. Vaguely she recalled that Nicky had been on the complete otherside of the court, why had he come to help her?

“Exactly, and what did you do? Went and got yourself concussed like an idiot. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth keeping you and Neil around, more trouble than you’re worth.” he babbled, but his worry bled into his easy levity and Janie would have been touched if she wasn’t trying so hard to stay upright. 

“‘M not concussed,” Janie mumbled as Nicky passed her to Abby. The crowd was so much louder outside the inner court’s thick plexiglass bubble, it made Janie want to close her eyes. So she did.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Abby maneuvered Janie into sitting on one of the benches before pulling her helmet off as carefully as she could. 

“Were you planning on playing until he killed you out there?” Wymack demanded and Janie could picture his scowl perfectly, complete with crossed arms and angry eyebrows.

“Better me than Day or Josten,” Janie managed weakly, all but slumping against the bench, she was dead on her feet even before she took that hit. Tilting her head back she felt something drip down her neck. Her lip must have split open again. “Did he get red carded at least?” 

“If he doesn’t I will go give the refs-”

“Janie, I need you to look at me,” Abby interrupted, sounding much closer than she had earlier.

“I don’t have a concussion. I’m just tired from trying to work past Jack and his attitude, and Lentz being an asshole.” Janie was pretty sure she was slurring her words a bit, but it was hard to say for sure because Abby was shining a light in her face and the pain in her leg was steadily getting worse. “Please don’t bench me, I need to play.” 

Someone snorted off to her left before commenting, “Do all of our strikers have a death wish?” 

It turned out to be Sheena so Janie did her best to flip the backliner off with both hands, not an easy task but one that was definitely worth the unamused frown from both her and Abby. 

Abby continued through her concussion check, face carefully calm. She then did a cursory check of Janie's knee, testing her range of motion and asking exactly where it hurt. The answer was everywhere but Janie settled for a vague hand motion before steeling herself for a glance at the bruise. She'd taken some pretty not-quite-legal hits in the past, but this was the first that had felt purposely malicious; Lentz had been trying to take her out of the game. When she finally looked down she nearly wretched. There was a perfectly straight line that connected the space a few inches above her knee to right where her shin guard had been, it crossed right over the soft spot right beside her patella. Even an inch to the right and her kneecap could have been shattered if the angry red and purple of her skin was any indication of the force Lentz had hit her with. She was lucky it wasn’t even dislocated.

As Janie recollected herself Abby wetted a paper towel before handing it over so she could clean the blood off her face. It wasn’t as much of a struggle to get her fingers to work now that she had been sitting down for a bit, but it still hurt to put any pressure on her mouth.

“She’s got a mild concussion, but I think her knee will be fine after a week off it and some ice.” Abby said to Wymack before helping Janie back to her feet.

“See coach, I'll be alright.” Janie tried for a confident grin, but it turned into more of a grimace as her knee tried to buckle under her weight. 

She heard Wymack let out a frustrated sigh before all the sound was swallowed up as they entered the locker room. The lights were still too bright, but Janie felt some of her balance and coordination coming back to her. Abby steered them both towards the small nurses office, pushing the door open with her hip. 

“I’m fine Doc, I swear,” Janie protested as Abby helped her onto the small exam table, her feet kicking against the side of it. Her head throbbed a bit, but it was better now that she was away from the noise of the game.

“Pardon me if I’m not inclined to believe that.” Abby gave her another unimpressed look. “Jersey and armor off, I need to check you for other injuries.” 

Janie complied, even if she needed a bit of help in getting her jersey off over her head, the chest armor on the other hand came off easily. Abby then proceeded to poke and press at Janie’s abdomen with cold fingers. After the bruises on her side were deemed just that, she took Janie’s hand after the striker flexed it and winced, a look somewhere between concern and fear in her eyes. 

“It’s not broken, if it were I would have come off after that third hit.” Janie tried to tug her hand free, it was nothing really, just a bruise that twinged a bit.

Abby raised an eyebrow, but let go and gestured for Janie to put her jersey back on, the armor left to sit next to her.

“You’re going to have some nasty bruises in the morning, but you were right, nothing looks broken. But you still have a mild concussion, so I’m going to suggest to Wymack you sit out the next game or two, even after your knee is healed up.” She scribbled something down onto the notepad she pulled from her kit. “I might reconsider the two game sit out depending on how well you follow my instructions.” 

Janie would have argued, but she knew that there was no winning when it came to Abby and her team’s wellbeing. “Alright,” she conceded, “Am I allowed to sleep?”

“Technically yes, but I'd rather be safe than sorry, so no.” Abby passed her a bottle of gatorade. “Drink this.” 

Janie just nodded, accepting the sports drink and slumping against the wall. She took a few sips as Abby puttered around quietly in the drawers and cabinets. After a few more minutes of comforting silence Abby stood from her chair, probably convinced that Janie wasn't going to doze off. 

“I'm going to go make sure the rest of them aren't injuring themselves out there, but I'll be back once the game’s over,” Abby said, getting up to pull the door closed behind her.

Janie downed the rest of her blue gatorade like it was a shot before hauling herself off the exam table, wincing when her knee protested. She began her cool down routine, slow at first with a simple series of forward stretches as she removed the different pieces of armor that remained, then she fell into the easy rhythm of her breathing and felt her muscles relax little by little. A few times she winced when she pulled a little too far for her bruised ribs or sore shoulder to handle comfortably. She managed to kill the last twenty of the game with just her cool down and a handful of breathing exercises that Leia had taught her over the summer. 

When the sounds of the team working their way back to the lockers filtered in Janie was sitting on the blessedly cool floor with her back to the exam table. Abby found her like that, grinning brightly and carrying a pair of crutches she must have gotten from the bus. They seemed like a bit of an overkill.

“Did we win?” Janie squinted up at the nurse.

“Why don’t you ask your team that.” She offered a hand to Janie and pulled the striker to her feet, handing the crutches off to her.

It had been a while since Janie had needed crutches, but she fell back into their rhythm easily and made her way out to her rambunctious teammates. Nicky was the first to spot her and bounded over, grinning widely. So they did win, Janie thought to herself happily.

“There she is, our second most idiotic striker.” He gave her a half hug, wary of the crutches but full of too much affection to pay them more than a cursory glance.

“You’re lucky I’m too tired to take offense to that Hemmick.” But she didn’t move to push the backliner away. It was nice, she realized, to have someone care that she was alright.

“Oh trust me I know, that hook you threw at Jack earlier is still very fresh up here.” He tapped a finger to his temple and Janie noted the bruise that was starting to bloom on his jaw, he must have checked one of the Jackal strikers into a wall. “How’re you feeling?”

“Bruised and sore with a minor concussion, but I think I’ll be alright.” 

“Good, now don’t you ever scare me like that again or I will set Dan on you,” he said with mock seriousness before his bright grin was back. “Now, I think you should go deal with the pair of visitors you have waiting. They refuse to leave until they see you’re not dead.

Janie shot him a puzzled look, _who could possibly be here to see her?_

The answer was soon made painfully obvious as a commotion rose up near the doors to the inner court. Wymack’s voice was loud and demanding as the door swung open, revealing a very flustered looking Leia with Henry close at her heels.

“Leia? ” Janie said dumbly. She hadn’t known she would be at the game. 

Leia’s focus snapped onto Janie and suddenly she was there right in front of Janie, eyes searching every exposed inch of skin for signs that she would have to kick that backliner’s ass. Her fluttering hands eventually came to rest on either side of Janie’s face.

“You fucking dumbass, he could have killed you.” Leia’s voice was soft, but full of a rage so vast Janie was surprised it didn’t burn the stadium down.

“You’re here?” Janie still couldn’t believe that Leia was here and not some concussion produced hallucination, she put her hands on Leia’s waist to be sure.

“Yes I’m here, I wanted to see my wonderful girlfriend kick ass before finals and I got some of the team to join me.” Leia carefully tilted Janie’s head back and forth with her hands, taking in the split lip courtesy of Jack and the faint red indentation of her face guard courtesy of Lentz. 

“I’m sorry y’all had to watch that.” Janie grimaced, she hadn’t been playing anywhere near her best and it was almost embarrassing. 

“Oh shut up. If Hemmick hadn’t gone over and kicked his ass I would have.” Leia still had her hands on Janie’s face, as if Janie would disappear the moment she removed the contact.

“Nicky fought someone?” Janie couldn’t believe it. Nicky was always so cheerful, she couldn’t fathom the backliner willingly getting into a fight for anyone outside his little family. 

“It was brilliant, and it seems more people have your back than you think.” Leia gave her one last once over before pressing a soft kiss to Janie’s mouth. 

Janie inched forward, chasing Leia’s lips even when her own were in pain from the barely there kiss. The goalie let out a small laugh at the noise Janie made when Leia dropped her head to Janie’s shoulder. 

“Me and a few of the other defense girls are leaving late tomorrow, if you maybe wanted to spend the night in a bed that isn’t an XL twin.” The implications of Leia’s offer and the sudden, feather light appearance of lips at her jaw, make Janie’s answer easier than breathing.

“That would be nice.” She slips her fingers just beneath the hem of Leia’s sweatshirt, thought she’s pretty sure that since it’s orange and has Smalls 11 printed in big letters on the back that it’s one of the many Leia’s swiped over the semester.

“I’ll meet you outside, after you’ve showered and don’t smell like sweat and exy.” Leia wrinkled her nose teasingly, “And I think your team is waiting on you since they’ve sent Hemmick to make sure I haven’t kidnapped you.” 

Janie turned and there was Nicky, still in all his gear, waiting for Janie. He gave her a little wave and a soft smile. 

“I’ll be back in a minute, you didn’t need to check on me.” Janie tried to wave him off but he didn’t budge.

“I know, but coach was getting worried shorty here had convinced you to skip post game.” He gave a nod to Leia, who returned the gestured.

Leia gave Janie one last kiss on the cheek before pushing her back towards the locker room. “Get moving, you still stink.” 

Janie watched as Leia slipped back out the doors and into the stadium. 

“It’s nice to see you like that,” Nicky commented as they started slowly back towards the actual locker rooms.

“Like what?” Janie didn’t feel any different, all game related injuries aside, but she had a hunch about what Nicky was getting at.

“At ease, like you’re letting your guard down. You’re never like that around any of us.” 

Janie just shrugged. “It took a lot to get us there.”

“How long?” Nicky asked, drifting to a stop in front of the door to the guys room. Normally it would have felt invasive but now it just felt like any other question he could have asked. Easy and harmless.

“Going on eight years of friendship and the last three as girlfriends. There’s probably something to be said about shared trauma and helping each other through shit that would have killed us.” Janie shrugged again, telling people more about her past than what was strictly necessary was always strange and unpleasant. But it felt easier with Nicky, maybe they had more in common than she thought.

Nicky just nodded, his face soft and understanding. “I’ve been with Erik since I was eighteen. He pulled me out of the darkest place I’ve ever been. I wouldn’t be here without him.”

“Thank you,” Janie said, surprising not only herself but Nicky too with her sincerity. “For trusting me with this, and having my back earlier. Just all of it. Thank you.”

“Of course,” he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and she thought he might have been crying a little bit. “I hope you know this means you’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future.” 

“I think I would be okay with that.” And Janie was happy to find she meant it, even as she extracted herself from Nicky’s hold. She really needed to shower if she smelled even half as bad as she thought she did. 

Nicky gave her another megawatt smile and she knew more of her time was going to be spent with the cheery backliner in the future, and she found herself not minding in the slightest. She was even looking forward to it and that was progress.

**Author's Note:**

> i may write a part 2 of this *eye emoji here* but only if people will read it  
> if you've made it this far let me know what you thought! comments keep me writing and feedback is a great way for me to improve!  
> im on tumblr @ad-astra-de-luna


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